7/15/2016

Lionsgate scored themselves a surprise hit with 2013's Now You See Me, a rare original film that audiences immediately took to. The illusionist heist flick earned $351M worldwide, with international receipts more than doubling what it made domestically. That should have told Lionsgate something, because the sequel Now You See Me 2 has underperformed overall with $241M, and again the bulk of it is from outside the U.S. So while the studio signed up director Jon M. Chu for Now You See Me 3earlier this year, that's not likely to happen anymore. But a spinoff aimed at their devoted international audience? That makes more sense.

According to THR, plans are underway for a Now You See Me spinoff that will be targeted for Chinese audiences and will be a Chinese co-production. Leomus Pictures will co-produce the Chinese-language movie with story ideas being hammered out right now. Don't be surprised if they jump through hoops to bring in Taiwanese megastar Jay Chou, who played a key supporting role in the sequel as a member of the mysterious organization backing the Four Horsemen.

Meanwhile, Lionsgate and Leomus are also working on a sequel to Escape Plan, that dreadful Sylvester Stallone/Arnold Schwarzenegger prison drama that you likely forgot about. Why is that even a consideration when it made only $25M domestically in 2013? Oh...because it banked $112M overseas, mostly in China. Got it.